Farm-gate operator.



J. H. BOUDREAU. FARM GATE ohm/mom, APRfiCATION FILED MAY 25, I914.

Patented June 13, 1916.

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J. H. BOUDREAU.

FARM GATE OPERATOR.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 25. I914; 1,186,738. Patented June 13,- 1916.

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A if; 1 m i NS I WITNESSES: 1 Jfi M NT Y'- I 1m JVSZQSV JOSEPH H. BOUDREAU, or UPLAND, NEBRASKA.

FARM-GATE OPERATOR.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 13,1916.

Application filed May 25, 1914. Serial No. 840,937.

This invention relates to farm'gate operatorsand my object is to produce simple, strong durable and inexpensive mechanism for insuring the proper opening and closing movements of the gate.

A further'object being toproduce a mechanism which can be easily and quickly applied to a gate of any type.

With thesegeneral objects in view theginvention consists in certain novel and peculiar features of construction and organization as hereinafter described and claimed, and in order that it may be fully understood reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1, is a perspective VlBW of a gate in its closed position. Fig. 2, is a perspective View in which the gate is shown as tilted upwardly and laterally, preliminary to swinging to open position. Fig. 3, is an enlarged fragmentary vertical section of the lower hinge of the gate. and also shows parts contiguous thereto.

In the said drawings, 1 indicates a drive way, 2 and 3 latch and hinge posts at opposite-sides of thedr-iveway, and 1 a fence.

5 is agate of any suitable or preferred type, provided with a bracket 6, hinged at 7 to a bracket 8 secured to the hinge post near the upper end of the same.

9 is a second hinge bracket secured to the lower hinge corner of the gate and provided with an arm 10, hinged at 11 eccentrically on hinge post 7 The hinge bracket 9 is hinged to a crank hinge 12 projecting upwardly from a drum 13 journaled on a pin 14 projecting upwardly from a bracket 15, secured to the hinge post or otherwise secured in fixed relation thereto, and to guard against possibility of dislocation of the drum, a washer 1 6 is secured by screw bolts 17, or in any other suitable manner, upon the upper end of pin 14 and overlaps 'thedrum. Arranged concentrically with the drum and projecting vertically upward from the bracket 15 is a semi-circular wall 18 provided centrally with a notch 19 and at opposite sides of said notch with openings 20. I

Pivoted at 21 to operate in a Vertical plane within an opening 22 in the crank hinge 12, is a dog 23 having its handle end terminated in an upwardly projecting cam shaped portion 24:. When the gate is closed or open, its weight is imposed through bracket 9, upon the cam portion 2a of the dog and thereby holds the opposite or tooth end of the latter in a plane above the wall '18.

Secured'to the drum 13 and wound around the same is a cable consisting of two ends 25, leading from the drum through the openings 20 along or near the edge of the driveway, and in each of said ends 25 a retractile spring 26 is arranged so that a pull applied on either end will first stretch the spring slightly and then impose the full strain offurther operation on the cable. The outer extremities of the cable ends are attached to chains 27 which extend diverginglv from the'cables to the upper and lower ends of grooved-cams 28, secured rigidly to the adjacent journaled ends of inverted U-shaped' levers 29, mounted by preference in bearings 30 on platforms 31, over which the wheel 32 of a vehicle is free to roll for the purpose of effecting operation of either of the levers.

Any suitable latch mechanism may be employed in connection with this gate but I prefer to use a latch mechanism constructed as follows: 33 is a cross bar pivoted to the inner side of the latch post, and pivoted to said bar is a pair of U-shaped catches 34,

"having'fingers 35 to engage bar 33 and thus limit the pivotal movement of the catches. The inner arms of the latter are beveled as at 36'so that as the gate closes and its lug 37 strikes the beveled surface of either catch the latter will swing upwardly and then drop down again behind the lug and secure the gate in its closed position.

Assuming that the parts are in the posi tion shown by Fig. 1, it will be seen that if a wheel of an approaching vehicle rides over platform 31, it will engage the corresponding lever 29 and rock the same to the position shown by Fig. 2, and that by so doing the cam 28 attached to said lever, will swing 7 and exert a pull on the attached cable end 25, it being apparent that by means of this cam an extended pull is obtained because in the movement of the lever described, the lower chain or pair of chains 27 will be wound upon the grooved face of the cam, as will be readily understood by reference to Fig. 2. The pull imposed upon the cable throughthe operation of the lever in the manner described causes the drum to rotate and swing the crank hinge about a quarter revolution toward the approaching vehicle andconsequently changes the'eccentric relation between the hinged pins, this change of eccentric relation resulting in lifting the free end of the gate upward until clear of the catches and in tilting said gate so'that it shall lean toward the lever 29, at the opposite side of the gate from the approaching vehicle. As this position of the gate is attained its weight is removed from the cam end of the dog to permit the tooth end of the same to drop down and engage the adjacent end of the wall 18 and thereby restrain the drum against back rotation and insure that the gate shallswing open through the force of gravity.

In its opening movement the gate attains considerable momentum and before it at tains its fully opened position its lower bracket 9 again rides upon the cam end of the dog and pivotally operates the same until its tooth end again occupies the position above the plane of the wall 18 by which time or before the vehicle has passed beyond the operated lever 29 and permitted the adjacent spring 26 to reelevate the lever. As the gate attains its fully open position it rides into a stop 38 by which it is held reliably open. After the vehicle has passed the gateway it is caused to so travel that one of its front wheels will roll over the other platform 31 and in so doing operate the lever 29 thereof. In this action the upper' part of the connected chain 27 is wound upon the corresponding cam and the connected spring 26 is slightly stretched, this action being followed by the imposition of the full pulling strain on the connected cable, which pull reverses the rotation of the drum and thereby swings the crank hinge back to its original position, this action taking place before the gate begins to close. Before this action of the drum ends the cam end of the dog is withdrawn from under the lower hinge bracket of the gate so that its 'toothed'end shall slide upon the up- 7 per edge of the wall 18 and drop into the ment as the gate swings to a closed position, this swinging action being positively and reliably effected because the preliminary and when it is nearly closed its lower hinge bracket 9 again rides upon the cam end of the dog and thus trips the opposite end of the latter from the notch in the wall and immediately thereafter the lug on the gate strikes the beveled end of one of the catches and raises the same, the said catch dropping back to its original position immediately, to lock the gate in its closed position.

In the opening movement of the gate it attains sufficient momentum to not only effect the unlocking of the dog, as explained, but also to slightly stretch the spring at the side toward which the gate swings, so that said spring shall immediately pull the dog back onto the wall, the ffipull of the spring however, not being su cient to interfere with the complete opening of the gate.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that the dog is unlocked when the gate is closed .orfully open and that immediately the gate is raised and tilted preliminary to a swinging movement, the dog locks until such swinging movement is well underway. Possibility of backward movement of the gate is thus guarded against.

It will be apparent that material structural changes may be Inade'in this gate operating mechanism, without departing from the principle and scope of the invention or sacrificing any of its advantages, as outlined in the appended claim.

I claim: 1 a

In a gate structure, a gate, a fixed hinge at the upper corner of the gate a fixed bracket at the lower corner of the gate provided with an upwardly projecting semicircular wall having a central notch and openings at opposite sides of said notch, a drum journaled on said bracket concentrically of and partly inclosed by said wall, a crank hinge projecting upwardly from the drum, a bracket secured to the gate at its lower corner and pivoted on said crank hinge concentrically of the fixed hinge, a dog pivoted for vertical movement and extending through said upwardly projecting crank hinge and provided with an upwardly projecting cam portion adapted to be pressed down by the lower hinge bracket to hold the opposite end of the dog above the plane of said wall and to be released by said bracket shortly after the gate starts to swing open, said dog when the gate releases its cam end riding on the top of the wall as the drum turns and eventually dropping in front of one endof said wall to prevent accidental closing movement of the gate, and reversing its travel on said wall in the closing movement of the gate and dropping into said notch, then being raised by rengage- In testimony whereof, I afiix my signament With saicll lower bracket asigle gate ture, in the presence of two witnesses. completes its 0 osing movement, an means at each side of the gate for imparting rota- JOSEPH D E tion to the drum in one direction and then Witnesses:

in the reverse direction to effect the opening E. ARNOLD, Jr.,

and closing of the gate. DARE BLANKENBILLES.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by aiddressing the Gommissioner of Patents,

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